Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway) is a speedway in Concord, North Carolina, north of Charlotte. It features a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) long quad-oval track that seats 115,000 people[1], with room for 50,000 more spectators in the infield. Constructed in 1959, it was the first speedway to host nighttime superspeedway racing (in 1992) in the "modern era," the first being the now defunct Raleigh Speedway in 1958, and to offer year-round residences (in 1984) with 52 condominiums available over turn one. It is owned by Speedway Motorsports, which has its corporate headquarters on the same property. The speedway is considered the home base of NASCAR, with 90% of NASCAR teams being based within 50 miles (80 km).

In February 1999, Lowe's bought the naming rights to the speedway, making it the first race track in the country with a corporate sponsor. Lowe's chose not to renew its naming rights after the 2009 NASCAR season.[2] The track reverted to its original name, Charlotte Motor Speedway, in 2010.[3]

Along with the main oval, the speedway also has a 2.25-mile (3.62 km) road course in the infield, a 0.6-mile (0.97 km) kart course in the infield, a quarter-mile oval using part of the front stretch and pit road, and an 0.2-mile (0.32 km) oval outside turn three. Also, across U.S. Highway 29 from the speedway, is a 0.4-mile (0.64 km) dirt track that opened in May 2000. The 0.25-mile (0.40 km) oval located between the frontstretch and pit road was constructed in 1991 for a legends race which was part of the Winston weekend. It was designed after Bowman-Gray Stadium. Also on speedway ground is a four lane dragstrip named Zmax Dragway which opened in September 2008.

In 2005, the surface of the circuit had started to wear from its last paving in mid-1994, resulting in the track's treatment in a diamond-grinding process to smooth out bumps. This process, known as levigation, caused major tire problems during both NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) events there, with a record 22 cautions at the showcase Coca-Cola 600, which is considered one of the top five annual NASCAR races.[4] It was the first Sprint Cup Series event to go more than five hours (excluding red flags) in 25 years. Speed increases were also a result of the levigation. After the problem with the tires, the speedway was repaved in 2006. Speedway President H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler retired following the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25, 2008 and was replaced by Marcus Smith.[5]

At the end of 2008, CMS reduced capacity by about 25,000. They cited reduced ticket sales as the cause. CMS expects to increase demand for seats by decreasing the number. In addition, they upgraded the front stretch seats from 18 inch fold down seats to 22 inch stadium style seats. In turns 1 and 2 the stands were converted into a luxury lot. [6]

Indy Racing League history

Indy Racing League races were held at the circuit in 1997 and 1998, with Buddy Lazier and Kenny Bräck winning the mid-summer Saturday night 500k (208 lap) races on the circuit. In 1999, the race was moved to the first weekend in May, the last race before the Indianapolis 500. On the 61st lap, a crash led to a car losing a tire, which was then propelled into the stands by another car. Three spectators were killed and eight others were injured in the incident.

As reported by IRL announcer Mike King, grandstands in the apex of Turn 1 was closed, but seats in Turns 1 and 2 past the apex were open. Seats outside of Turn 4 were also closed. When attendance grew beyond the 50,000 expected for the race, extra sections of stands were opened, and one of them was the section of track where the debris flew in Turn 4. Buddy Lazier was leading the race at the time of the caution for the Lap 62 crash. After pit stops, Greg Ray was leading the race when the race was abandoned. The race was cancelled after 79 laps, and the IRL did not return.

That incident, and a previous incident in July 1998 in a Champ Car race at Michigan which also killed three spectators (that race was run to its finish), led to new rules requiring cars to have tethers attached to wheel hubs in an effort to prevent such incidents from happening again. New catch fencing was also invented, curved so debris could not sail as easily into the grandstands.

Following the accident, a short series of bombings took place in Lowe's stores in North Carolina, injuring three, and prompting some to think there may be a link with a relative of one of the victims. When George Rocha was arrested for the bombings, he claimed that he was angry about the crash at the speedway, but he later confessed that it was retribution for being caught shoplifting and an attempt at extortion. [1]

Additional uses

Victory Lane At Charlotte Motor Speedway

The facility is considered one of the busiest sports venues in the country, with typically over 380 events a year. Along with many races, the speedway also hosts the Food Lion Auto Fair twice a year, one of the nation's largest car shows. Movies and commercials have been filmed there, notably Days of Thunder, and it is a popular tourist stop and testing grounds.

On May 26, 2006, the Pixar movie Cars premiered at the speedway, on several monster screens.

The feature of the April 2005 Spring Food Lion Auto Fair at the speedway was a popular sculpture exhibition, Jim Gary's Twentieth Century Dinosaurs. It is a menagerie of Garysauruses, all life-sized, and constructed of automobile parts. A special tent housed the heavily attended exhibition and a huge Gary sculpture, over forty feet long, was displayed at the entrance to the raceway during the entire fair. H. A. "Humpy" Wheeler and the speedway then sponsored the funding for the traveling sculpture exhibition to be featured by Belk College of Business on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where a self-guided tour of the campus-wide display was extended to the end of July.[2]

During a typical race week, Concord can balloon by over 200,000 people, temporarily making it the third largest city in North Carolina as fans and tourists visit the events at the speedway.

The speedway became home to the first season of Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race in 2007.

In the summer, they host the Summer Shootout Series with the Bandolero and Legends Car divisions of INEX.

Closure threat controversy

In October 2007 a controversy erupted following a Concord city council decision to rezone Speedway land to prevent a dragstrip from being built. Track owner Bruton Smith had already begun grading land for the dragstrip prior to the ruling. The decision came in large part because of concerns from people living in a recently built subdivision that sits around 1-mile (1.6 km) from where the strip would be built.

Threat

Following the decision Bruton Smith threatened to close Charlotte Motor Speedway and build a track elsewhere in Metrolina. When asked if he would go through with the threat Smith replied "I'm deadly serious".

On November 21, 2007, a Speedway spokesperson announced that Smith would not close Charlotte Motor Speedway.[3]

Dragstrip

In late December 2007, Bruton Smith announced plans for a new dragstrip to be built near the speedway. [7] The dragstrip, called the zMax Dragway, was built on a piece of land right across from Highway 29. It is in its first full year of operation. Its events include those from all four of the NHRA's categories, and recently hosted a weekend of Pinks.[8]

The track is unique in that there are records in Pro Stock (car), Pro Stock Motorcycle, but not in Top Fuel or Funny Car. The track opened in September 2008, after the NHRA declared no records would be allowed in Top Fuel or Funny Car because they run to an unofficial 1,000 foot distance, which is the distance of those two classes because of rule changes imposed in July 2008 following the death of Scott Kalitta.